A way into the academic study of games and play, for students of all ages
This course is currently being offered live on Outschool. Presentation slides for each session will be posted here, along with the recommended reading selections to go further with the topic. They should give you lots of ideas for what to read and play next.
Week 1: Historical Approaches to Ludology
- Homo Ludens, by Johan Huizinga – Foreword and ch 1
- Hamlet on the Holodeck, by Janet Murray – Introduction, and “The Last Word on Ludology v Narratology”
Week 2: Play in Art and Science
- “On the Marionette Theater,” by Heinrich von Kleist
- “Meditations on a Hobby Horse,” by E.H. Gombrich
- Alexander Calder biography review in The Atlantic
- Flow, by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, ch 1-3
- The Gardener and the Carpenter, by Alison Gopnik, ch 6-8
Week 3: Playing The Legend of Zelda
- The Legend of Zelda (NES or re-release)
- Legends of Localization Translation Comparison
Thanks for playing along! You might also like our courses on Video Game Studies and Intertextuality.
Video Game Academy 